Media reports on Wednesday said that ICAI had withdrawn the showcause notice issued to Price Waterhouse for alleged violation of norms. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Thursday denied media reports that it has withdrawn an 8 October showcause notice against accounting firm Price Waterhouse that was statutory auditor for the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd. Price Waterhouse New Delhi in a Wednesday statement claimed that the notice had been withdrawn. Subsequently, media reports on Wednesday, including in Mint’s Thursday edition, also said that ICAI had withdrawn the showcause notice issued to Price Waterhouse for alleged violation of norms. In a clarification issued on Thursday, ICAI said that Price Waterhouse having its head office at New Delhi had filed a writ petition before the Delhi high court which had come up for hearing on 3 November, 2009.

The court observed that the director discipline shall decide and issue fresh notice to Price Waterhouse (New Delhi) and thereafter proceed further in accordance with the Chartered Accountants Act and Rules framed there under.

Satyam’s founder chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed in January to having doctored the firm’s accounts for several years to the tune of Rs7,.136 crore.

Price Waterhouse had been the firm’s auditors and at least two employees subsequently confessed to having been aware of the fraud. Satyam has since been sold Tech Mahindra Ltd.